Unsung Heroes185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMdeipVzboJ
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeltBeOGMyn
Although I stand on the shoulders of giants,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlW5fczav1r
I fail to see much farther than the bridge of my nose.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IQmu3ylNX
The fault in mine. The shame is mine.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokRItWT2Ja
For I am unworthy of you, my beloved dead.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5XHdzjwO0
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡga1lJfHaIc
Emilio (Maternal Grandfather)185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh8Gzs8PTGt
Your crime was literacy,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6i22JbEjHc
And the possession of a social conscience,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LxEV7tLRu
That made you yearn to see your beloved Spain remain free,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7i47NY9BUI
And prevented you from suffering fascists lightly.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NCd4f7whh
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8W1tLVl5qC
You did not bear arms,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4HDP1plCYD
For you abhorred all violence,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISEIdPVVJ2
You did not incite rebellion, though you185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1b41d46Zlk
Rebelled against the foreign and domestic enemies of freedom.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbniH0yE6nT
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdT6v6v6lf
As best I can tell you were an idealist who,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcWnqOqCSbo
In a time of darkness,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡumFcHH0ywv
Clung passionately to the belief,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9tDtclWlQ3
In the perfectibility of the human spirit.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGoK8lpmgRA
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0q5VPlpkum
You would not abide the lies the regional papers carried,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyjor2NlMB
And translated news from American and British newspapers,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6x11sFXUS4
About the gathering storm,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69uW9uJl53
Sharing the truth freely with all who would listen.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GtOwD9yyi
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wlEC4GVSP
You gave speeches, and wrote speeches delivered by others, in support of a doomed185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevF7adXXa6
Republic collapsing under the weight of its own incompetence and corruption.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6iHt5xe1Yk
You were warned by friends of your imminent arrest and offered passage back to the U.S. or to185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahCItENEwH
Buenos Aires where so many of your friends had already found refuge.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MeEaO4f7i
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzvBFVSRtF
But they would not get your wife and nine children out,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEo4ktLQ48
And you refused to leave them to their fate.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqnvf4t91A0
They came for you, as always, in the middle of the night,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoVoFEp8FwM
These cowards with stern faces hiding behind machine guns.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZB4A8pUwWt
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7hn3yf7et
They took you prisoner, not for the first time, to the Castillo de San Anton,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4NXmZG7P9
A fortress by a most beautiful, tranquil bay,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdbOCwPAfc
Where they tore out your nails, one by one, and those their185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAdG6QRsurg
Gentlest caresses while they asked you for names.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IpDeigVs8
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv00mkw0gnW
You endured, God knows what there, for months,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3OlWLvnQH
And were sentenced to be shot as a traitor at La Plaza de María Pita.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCofY6ICnl6
But the Republic had friends, even among the officers of the fascist forces,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ44vb4Bnk45
And one of them opened your cell door on the eve of your execution.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xxeZCofOD
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuNTJdExX8
You had contracted tuberculosis by then, yet, according to grandmother, you185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlJsagHIdy
Managed to swim miles across the bay in a moonless night, to safety in the home of185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL8EpfxHNIa
Another patriot who risked his life and the lives of his family to hide you in185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9VeqUvojen
His root cellar and made a trip of many miles on foot to find your wife.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡriUvo2NGPu
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdT88vlbT3
He found your home and told your wife of your unexpected reprieve,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡncTtZQD21F
And asked her to send some clothing and some shoes to replace your dirty rags.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQGhE7qlnv
You eldest daughter, Maria, insisted on accompanying the stranger back on foot, taking185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvpzDtb174u
Clothing and what provisions she could quickly gather and carry to you.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvGLu99LRUf
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdCW4ILIFI
From time to time you accepted the hospitality of an overnight stay In the attic or hay loft of a185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcTjty04Cgu
Republican sympathizer as these were not hard to185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2yFkXE4ih6
Find in the fiercely independent Galicia under the yoke of one of its own.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD2YEWodB7A
But mostly you lived in the woods, with active guerrillas for years.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEvg0WA4UG
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXJCHJ5AIvd
You lived with all the comforts of a hunted animal with others who would not yield,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOJdqNzyhb
Your only crime consisted of being on the wrong side of a lost cause.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmyij0xWae
I hope it brought you some comfort to know you were on the right side of history.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMzIMMI0wL
It brought none to your wife and none to your youngest children.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfO1hwNzJ0
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa9ChSrvlIg
As you paid the long penance for your conscience, once a month or so, after some185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLONwFBSenL
Time passed, you visited your wife and children. You were introduced to the little ones185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8x7NcXMLoR
As an uncle from afar. They did not know the bearded wild man who paid these visits185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjboLhJ86Mp
In the middle of the night and left wearing dad’s old, clean clothes.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxO3AA6nPUK
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7f01x0Q3cx
The older ones, Maria, Josefa, Juan and Toñita, all in their teens, told the little ones185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hlc7Ic3mB
That their “uncle” brought news of their dad. The younger children, still wearing the185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXR1Dh4EdKP
Frayed cloaks of their innocence, accepted this, not questioning why he stayed in185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX17pZSSsVi
Mom’s room all night and was gone before they awoke the next morning.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHKuaOGR10a
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqAQfMYnX3
Your grief at playing the part of a stranger in your own home, of not embracing your185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0tDsjXa3x
Children on whom you doted, one and all, for their protection and yours, as there were185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xRUSOZ1bT
No shortage of fascists who tried to ply them with pastries and candy,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8dDSOgLJ1
Seeking to use their innocence as a weapon against you.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKXqqTgvYX
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYBihz3Cem
Your parents were relatively wealthy business owners who farmed the sea but185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcP29H2NkgE
Disowned you—perhaps for your politics, perhaps for choosing to emigrate and185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpiroBYPEh
Refusing to join the family business, or perhaps for marrying for love in New York City185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4QzfOFwKPS
A hard working girl beneath your social station in their eyes.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKc4tTKSA57
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd9JJcQd5Jw
You lived just long enough to see Spain delivered from war,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxt5LczlZZO
Though not freed of her chains.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxp6MRwyUF
You were spared the war’s aftermath.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLMhfWjlmg
Your wife and children were not.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXakfSgQ9L
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZr41KOnnE4
No books record your name. Most of those who knew you are dead.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUzWbyghft
Yet flowers have long perpetually appeared on your simple above-ground burial site in185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJNgQGUUSgq
Sada that holds your ashes, and those of your eldest son, Juan, and second-185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60NMopp4dg
Eldest daughter, Toñita, who died much younger than even you.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRX2TOChSu
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcKsj7ZiLdx
Your wife has joined you there, in a place where185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTL337jg9qY
Honor, goodness, decency, principle and a pure,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3I9eluUfAd
Broken heart,185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBw8aB6STmC
Now rest in peace.185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5emv4fv7NV
185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIuN5t3Zhdk
Author's Note: You can hear my reading of this poem free on Spotify at the following link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1AOXDwsNKke4AzCnr8gl3c?si=_OdzkNRoSaqlhYI3xxfpQg185Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS23APjJisr

From: Of Pain and Ecstasy: Collected Poems (Vol. 1)